Operation to rescue Korean hostages begins

A rescue operation is reported to be underway to save the remaining 21 South Korean hostages held by Taliban forces in Afghanistan.

The Taliban has repeatedly said that any use of force would jeopardise the lives of the remaining hostages.

The remaing hostages are said to be still alive after yet another Taliban deadline expired, an Afghan official said, adding the army had dropped leaflets warning of an assault to rescue them.

"The hostages are alive," said Khowja Seddiqi, district chief of Qarabagh, in Ghazni province, where the 23 Christian volunteers were abducted nearly two weeks ago by the Taliban.

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"The national army has dropped leaflets through helicopters telling people in several districts to evacuate their houses because it wants to launch an operation," he told Reuters.

Two women among 21 Koreans held by the Taliban in Afghanistan are said to be seriously ill, a rebel spokesman have said before the insurgents' 7.30am deadline today for Kabul to free prisoners in return for the hostages.

He said the pair suffered from an unknown illness and the Taliban did not have the right medicines to treat them.

The Taliban were looking after the remaining South Koreans from a group of 23 Christians kidnapped from a bus in Ghazni province two weeks ago, he added. The Islamic movement killed two of the male hostages after previous deadlines expired.

Afghan officials have said no deal will be struck with the Taliban and demand the unconditional release of the remaining captives, 18 of them women.

President Hamid Karzai came under sharp criticism after releasing a group of Taliban prisoners in March in return for the freedom of an Italian journalist.

The abduction of the Koreans comes after 18 months of rising violence in Afghanistan, the bloodiest period since the Taliban were ousted from power by U.S.-led and Afghan forces in 2001.

A day before seizing the Koreans, the Taliban abducted two German aid workers and five of their Afghan colleagues in Wardak province which like Ghazni lies to the southwest of Kabul.

One of the Germans was found shot dead this week and one of the Afghans managed to escape. The other German and four Afghans were still being held.

The Taliban demand that Germany pulls its 3,000-strong force under NATO's command out of Afghanistan as the main condition for freeing the other German.

Al Jazeera showed a man against a rocky backdrop in a hilly area, a militant covering him with a rocket-propelled grenade.

The station did not play the sound of the video, but a presenter said: "The German hostage Rudolf B. ... urged Germany and the United States to pull out their forces from Afghanistan and urged his country to help save his life and secure his return to his homeland and family."

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has said Berlin will not give in to the kidnappers' demands.